Systems and methods for collaborative construction planning

1. A method for providing a collaborative construction project plan using a collaborative planning system, the method comprising:

establishing a milestone or completion event for a construction project plan;

assembling the construction project plan by:

defining activities for the milestone or completion event, wherein each of the activities is associated with a team member which accomplishes a given activity; and

arranging the activities in reverse chronological order starting with the milestone or completion event, according to an order of dependency of execution of activities;

displaying the construction project plan in such a way that the activities are illustrated to show the order of dependency between activities;

generating, on a graphics display, a visualization of a critical path for the construction project plan;

identifying, on the graphics display, critical activities associated with the critical path by highlighting the critical path activities with a visual indication, in the visualization, that shows a path of necessary activities in the construction project plan;

receiving first user input to the visualization indicating a modification to an activity;

in response to the receiving the first input, calculating time data of the construction project plan;

interactively and in response to the first input, updating the visualization to displaying the calculated time data of the construction project plan on the graphics display to show changes in the critical path such that further user input continues to interactively update the visualization;

displaying, on the graphics display, an interactive two-dimensional floor plan view, the interactive two-dimensional floor plan view displaying an interactive building map that includes activities as located in a building space;

receiving second user input indicating a user preference for three-dimensional view; and

in response to receiving the second input, switching, on the graphics display, the interactive two-dimensional floor plan view into a three-dimensional floor plan view.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising providing team members with limited control over activities, the limited control comprising:

removing preceding or updated activities, wherein an activity is defined by a team member plan; and

making commitments to activities assigned to the team member; and

submitting team member plan to a third party or other application.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising calculating for the construction project plan, a planned finish date or a planned start date, based upon activity dates and dependencies.

4. The method according to claim 3 , further comprising compressing activity dates of the construction project plan based on the planned finish date or the planned start date.

5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising calculating two sets of planned start and end dates for each activity, a first set of planned start and end dates being calculated in reverse chronological order from an expected milestone finish date, a second set of planned start and end dates being calculated in forward chronological order based on either a current date or a user-supplied planned start date.

6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising calculating a delta data that represents a time discrepancy in a current construction project plan resulting from either:

overdue activities; or

a possibility of delaying an activity start without affecting an overall expected plan finish date.

7. The method according to claim 6 , wherein overdue activities are illustrated using a first color that is applied to a representation of an entity within the display of the construction project plan.

8. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising error checking the construction project plan and highlighting detected errors within the display.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising displaying uncommitted activities and assignment of activities to entities.

10. A construction project planning system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory for storing logic, the logic being executed by the processor to perform operations comprising:

establishing a milestone or completion event for a construction project plan;

assembling the construction project plan by:

defining activities for the milestone or completion event, wherein each of the activities is associated with an team member which accomplishes a given activity; and

arranging the activities in reverse chronological order starting with the milestone or completion event, according to an order of dependency of execution of activities;

creating a network of commitments from the arranged activities; and

displaying the construction project plan in such a way that the activities are illustrated to show the order of dependency between activities;

generating, on a graphics display, a visualization of a critical path for the construction project plan;

identifying, on the graphics display, critical activities associated with the critical path by highlighting the critical path activities with a visual indication, in the visualization, that shows a path of necessary activities in the construction project plan;

receiving first user input to the visualization indicating a modification to an activity;

in response to the receiving the first input, calculating time data of the construction project plan;

interactively and in response to the first input, updating the visualization to displaying the calculated time data of the construction project plan on the graphics display to show changes in the critical path such that further user input continues to interactively update the visualization;

displaying, on the graphics display, an interactive two-dimensional floor plan view, the interactive two-dimensional floor plan view displaying an interactive building map that includes activities as located in a building space;

receiving second user input indicating a user preference for three-dimensional view; and

in response to receiving the second input, switching, on the graphics display, the interactive two-dimensional floor plan view into a three-dimensional floor plan view.

11. The construction project planning system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising providing team members with limited control over activities, the limited control comprising:

removing preceding or updated activities, wherein an activity is defined by a team member plan; and

making commitments to activities assigned to the team member; and

submitting team member plan to a third party or other application.

12. The construction project planning system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising calculating for the construction project plan, a planned finish date or a planned start date, based upon activity dates and dependencies.

13. The construction project planning system of claim 12 , the operations further comprising compressing activity dates of the construction project plan based on the planned finish date or the planned start date.

14. The construction project planning system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising calculating two sets of planned start and end dates for each activity, a first set of planned start and end dates being calculated in reverse chronological order from an expected milestone finish date, a second set of planned start and end dates being calculated in forward chronological order based on either a current date or a user-supplied planned start date.

15. The construction project planning system of claim 14 , the operations further comprising calculating a delta data that represents a time discrepancy in a current construction project plan resulting from either:

overdue activities; or

a possibility of delaying an activity start without affecting an overall expected plan finish date.

16. The construction project planning system of claim 15 , wherein overdue activities are illustrated using a first color that is applied to a representation of an entity within the display of the construction project plan.

17. The construction project planning system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising error checking the construction project plan and highlighting detected errors within the display.

18. The construction project planning system of claim 10 , the operations further comprising displaying uncommitted activities and assignment of activities to entities.